Union Chapel celebrates 146th anniversary
Union Chapel in the Grove.
Historic Union Chapel will celebrate the 146th anniversary of the Chapel and Shelter Island Heights at a homecoming service this Sunday, June 17th at 10:30 a.m. The Chapel bell will toll for members of the Shelter Island Heights community and Chapel trustees who passed away over the last year including: Ray Adams, Nancy Purtell Edwards, Howard Hamm, Jay Lewis, Dan Reich, Kenneth Reilly and Lois Weir. Tim Purtell, Chair of the Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation, will read the names.
At the service, Union Chapel will welcome Reverend Tom MacLeod of the North Fork United Methodist Church.
Rev. MacLeod’s first clerical appointment was to the Sag Harbor United Methodist Church. During his tenure, the church experienced a rebirth that culminated in the building of a new sanctuary. In recognition of that accomplishment, the Sag Harbor Express named Rev. MacLeod person of the year in 2010. The Sag Harbor church’s turnaround was also featured in Paul Nixon’s 2012 book, “We Refused to Lead a Dying Church.”
In 2014, the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church moved Rev. MacLeod to Cutchogue where he currently serves as pastor in the newly formed North Fork United Methodist Church. During his time on the North Fork, Rev. MacLeod has overseen the consolidation of all four of the local church congregations from Cutchogue to Orient, with the vision of building a new centrally located sanctuary in Southold. That vision is quickly becoming a reality, as the new sanctuary currently under construction should be ready for worship by Easter 2019.
Music for the service will be performed by Lea Kendall, guest organist, and Anne-Marie Chubet, violinist. Ms. Chubet will play pieces by Haydn and Leclair.
Ms. Chubet is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and is currently a member of the faculty of Boston College and the All-Newton Music School. A performer on both modern and period violin, she is a member of the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. At Boston College, she teaches violin, coaches chamber music and is the director of BC Baroque, a student orchestra performing music of the baroque period. In the summer, she coaches chamber music at the Wellesley College Chamber Music Center and performs as a member of the Britt Classical Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon.
Following the service, there will be a reception in the Grove to which all are warmly invited.
SUBMITTED BY WENDY ENRIGHT
